Irwin Allen

 Irwin Allen (June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991)

Allen was a film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. His most successful productions were The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). He also created and produced the popular 1960s science-fiction television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants. Allen produced three made-for-TV disaster movies: Flood! (1976), Fire! (1977), and Hanging by a Thread (1979). He also made Viva Knievel! (1977), The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978), and The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980). For theatrical release, he produced and directed The Swarm (1978) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), and produced When Time Ran Out (1980). Allen later went to Columbia to make a short-lived TV series, Code Red (1981–82). He also purchased the rights to several Marvel Comics characters including Daredevil, Black Widow and others for television adaptation in the 1980s; he commissioned a script for a Daredevil pilot from writer Stirling Silliphant, but the project never went before cameras. Allen planned to make a star-studded musical of Pinocchio, but his declining health forced his retirement in 1986. He died from a heart attack at age 75 on November 2, 1991. Allen is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles.